Transcript The Antebellum South

MONDAY VOCABULARY
oligarchy: rule by a small elite; government by the few.
“Before the Civil War, the South was in some respects not
so much a democracy but an oligarchy…”
Planter “aristocracy”: Form of government in which a few
of the most prominent citizens rule; in the case of the South,
in 1850 only 2% of slave owners owned more than 50
slaves and less than this 2% provided the political and
social leadership of the section.
“Land Butchery”: excessive cultivation which despoiled
the good land; plantation agriculture was wasteful,
monopolistic and financially unstable.
Monday’s Question of the Day
Slavery's growth in the 19th
century paralleled the
expansion of cotton as a
cash crop
(Source: Wikimedia
Commons--public domain)
Who was the abolitionist leader and publisher of The Liberator who
referred to the U.S. Constitution as "the most bloody and heavendaring arrangement ever made by men for the continuance and
protection of a system of the most atrocious villainy ever exhibited
on earth?"
(A) Theodore Weld
(B) William Lloyd Garrison
(C) Lewis Tappan
(D) Elijah P. Lovejoy
(E) John Quincy Adams
Answer: (B) William Lloyd Garrison
Garrison was a member of the American
Colonization Society which supported sending
ex-slaves back to Africa, but broke with them in
1830 and began publishing The Liberator in
1831. He advocated for the immediate and
complete abolition of slavery and rejected any
attempts at compromise on the issue. He wrote:
"I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with
moderation. . . . I am in earnest -- I will not
equivocate -- I will not excuse -- I will not retreat
a single inch -- AND I WILL BE HEARD."
TuesDAY VOCABULARY
Manifest Destiny: Sometimes called Manifest Desire. The
belief that the United States was destined, even divinely
ordained, to expand across the North American continent,
from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean.
“hard-ciderites”: a frontier slogan that referenced the
supporters of Whig President William Henry Harrison of
Ohio. Hard cider is an alcoholic drink from distilled apples
and considered the poor westerner’s champagne. The log
cabin and barrel of hard cider were prominent in the
campaign of 1840 between Van Buren and Harrison.
annexation: process of attaching, adding, or appending;
the act of connecting; as in the annexation of Texas to the
United States. The Lone Star Republic was denied
annexation by Pres. Jackson and Van Buren due to slaverygrowth issue. Texas annexed in 1844 under Tyler.
Manifest Destiny
Tuesday’s Question of the Day
Which of the following nations did not
claim ownership of part of the west coast
of North America in the 1830s?
(A) Great Britain
(B) Russia
(C) Mexico
(D) France
(E) United States
Answer: (D) France
Mexico, Great Britain, the United States, and
Russia all made claim to portions of the west
coast of North America in the 1830s. The
competing claims of Great Britain and the United
States were settled with the Oregon Treaty of
1846 which fixed the border at the 49th parallel.
Mexico gave up claim to California with the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. Russia's
otter-hunting efforts led it to attempt settlement
of northern California at Fort Ross which had
perhaps 100 Russian residents at its height but
was abandoned as a Russian outpost in 1842.
WednesDAY VOCABULARY
sectionalism: loyalty to a particular region:
North (New England and mid-Atlantic states plus the Old
Northwest states west of the Alleghenies: Ohio, Indiana,
etc.)
South (states that permitted slavery: border states of Kentucky,
Missouri, and Maryland; Deep South states of Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi, and Louisiana;Old South states of Virginia, North Carolina, and
South Carolina and New Southwest states of Texas, Arkansas, and Indian
Territory).
West (lands not on the Atlantic Coast; lands on other side
of Appalachian Mts.; land beyond the Miss. River)
“peculiar institution”: reference to the property of slaves
which attempted to justify the “good” of the system.
overseer: someone who governs or directs the work of
another. “….under the watchful eyes and ready whip-
Wednesday’s Question of the Day
Southern defenses of slavery in the 1850s
included all of the following except
(A) references to slavery in the Bible,
including "slaves, obey your masters"
(B) an appeal that slavery was actually
kinder to the slave than the wage system of
Northern cities
(C) the Constitution allowed slavery
(D) the continued presence of slavery in
Great Britain
(E) the fact that Rome and Greece both
utilized slavery
Answer: (D) the continued presence of slavery in Great Britain
Southerners created varied and elaborate
defenses of slavery, appealing to the classical
cultures of Greece and Rome, verses in the
Bible, the fact that the Constitution permitted
it, and the contrast with the conditions of
northern industrial workers, who had no job
security and were not provided food and
housing, as were slaves. Parliament
abolished slavery throughout the British
Empire in 1833, largely due to the tireless
efforts of William Wilberforce who died three
days after the final bill was passed.
ThursDAY VOCABULARY
sabotage: intentional destruction or damage of goods,
machines, or productive processes,.. ”they sabotaged
expensive equipment…”
“hillbillies” and “poor white trash”: derisive name
given to ¾ of the South’s white population who owned
no slaves but defended the system believing they
would some day own slaves and be superior to
someone on the social scale.
“Pine Barrens”: White mountain southerners along the
the slopes and in the valleys of the Appalachian and
Osark mountains. Disliked planters and the slaves;
many during the Civil War (including Pres. Andrew
Johnson of Tennessee) fought with the Union/North.)
Thursday’s Question of the Day
Which of the following statements is not true of the MexicanAmerican War?
I. Before an 1846 Texas-Mexico border dispute, President Polk
had sent a delegation to Mexico City in an attempt to purchase
California and New Mexico
II. Mexican General Santa Anna, who had been disgraced and
exiled for his actions in the Texas independence fight, was
brought out of exile and resumed his position as President of
Mexico
III. A group of Irish-American soldiers defected to the Mexican
side and formed the San Patricio Battalion
IV. General Zachary Taylor's forces outlasted Mexican troops
while greatly outnumbered at the battle of Buena Vista
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)
I, II, and IV only
II, III, and IV only
I and III only
I, III, and IV only
all of the statements are true
Answer: (E) all of the statements are true
Polk sent John Slidell to offer to purchase what
is now the American Southwest from Mexico,
but offended Mexican officials refused to meet
the delegation. Santa Anna was brought out of
Cuban exile by Polk in an attempt to end the
war, but the effort backfired as Santa Anna led
troops against the U.S. The San Patricio
Battalion, composed mainly of Roman
Catholics, was promised land grants for
defecting to the Mexican cause. Many were
caught and executed for treason. No land
grants were ever confirmed for those who
survived. Taylor's men, outnumbered perhaps
20,000 to 5,000, successfully resisted Santa
Anna's attacks at Buena Vista.
FriDAY
VOCABULARY
Flogging: punishment also called whipping or caning; a
beating administered with a whip or rod, with blows
commonly directed to the person’s back.
American Colonization Society: Part of the antislavery
movement; founded in 1817 to support the idea of
transporting free slaves to an African colony. Established
Monrovia, Liberia in 1822 for this purpose but on 12,000
settled there.
American Antislavery Society: Formed in 1833 by
William Lloyd Garrison (Liberator) as a radical abolitionist
movement that attacked the Constitution as a proslavery
document and advocated Northern secession.
Friday’s Question of the Day
Anti-Fugitive Slave Act poster
(Source: Wikimedia Commons--public
domain)
The Fugitive Slave Act was a
provision of which of the following
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)
the Missouri Compromise
the Wilmot Proviso
the Compromise of 1850
the Kansas-Nebraska Act
the Ostend Manifesto
Answer: (C) the Compromise of 1850
Although the Constitution supported the return of
runaway slaves (Article IV, Section II) and
fugitive slave bills had been passed prior to
1850, the inclusion of the Fugitive Slave Law in
the Compromise of 1850 proved to be the most
controversial. Southerners demanded it in
exchange for concessions to the North, such
as California's admission as a free state.
Abolitionists hated it and saw its federal
enforcement as an example of Southern "slave
power."